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Dell Appassure 5 User Guide

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    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B29 Core drop-down 
    menu (under 
    Outgoing 
    Replication)The drop-down menu (gear icon) next to the name of a target core includes the 
    following functions:
    •Details. Shows the customer ID, URL, display name, state, Core ID, email 
    address, and comments associated with this core. For more information, 
    see Monitoring replication.
    •Change Settings. Lets you edit the host and port for this core. For more 
    information, see Changing target core settings.
    • Delete. Removes the Core from replication. For more information, see 
    Removing a target core from replication.
    • Schedule. Lets you designate specific times when replication should 
    occur. For more information, see Scheduling replication.
    • Add Machines. Lets you add protected machines you want to replicate to 
    this target core.
    Core drop-down 
    menu (under 
    Incoming 
    Replication)The drop-down menu (gear icon) next to the name of a source core includes the 
    following functions:
    •Details. Shows the customer ID, URL, display name, state, Core ID, email 
    address, and comments associated with this core. For more information, 
    see Monitoring replication.
    •Consume. Adds a seed drive of a protected machine to the target core 
    repository to establish the foundation of a replicated agent. For more 
    information, see Consuming the seed drive on a target core.
    • Delete. Removes the Core from replication. For more information, see 
    Removing a source core from replication.
    Agent drop-down 
    menu (table heading 
    row)The drop-down menu (gear icon) in the heading row applies to any protected 
    machines or agents selected from the table. It includes the following functions:
    •Force. Forces a transfer of replicated data.
    •Pause. Pauses replication and prevents the job from occurring until you 
    resume.
    •Resume. Takes replication out of a paused state
    •Copy. Creates a seed drive of the protected machine. For more 
    information, see Understanding seed drives and Using the Copy function 
    to create a seed drive.
    • Delete. Removes the selected agents from replication.
    For more information about these functions, see Managing replication settings 
    and Removing replication.
    Force Refresh There is a Force Refresh button following the Outgoing Replication and the 
    Incoming Replication sections. For each section, this circular button establishes 
    on-demand communication between the cores to update any data that may have 
    changed since the last scheduled transfer. Table 4. Replication tab options
    UI Element Description 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B30
    Viewing the Virtual Standby tab
    The Virtual Standby tab lets you initiate and manage the continual export of a protected machine to one of 
    several virtual machine (VM) host types. Available VM types include:
    •ESXi
    •VMware Workstation
    •Hyper-V
    •VirtualBox
    The menu bar under the Virtual Standby heading provides actions that you can apply to any Virtual Standby 
    machine you select. The following table includes descriptions of the various elements and capabilities on the 
    Virtual Standby tab.
    In the Core Console, the table under the menu bar lists the virtual machines to which the Core is connected. 
    The following table defines the details that the tab displays for each machine.Agent drop-down 
    menu (individual 
    agents under 
    Outgoing 
    Replication)The drop-down menu (gear icon) next to an individual protected machine or 
    agent offers functions that apply only to that machine. It includes the following 
    functions:
    • Settings. Lets you set the replication priority for this agent. For more 
    information, see Setting replication priority for a protected machine.
    •Force. Forces a transfer of replicated data. Forcing replication.
    • Delete. Removes the agent from replication. For more information, see 
    Removing a protected machine from replication on the source core.
    Agent drop-down 
    menu (individual 
    agents under 
    Incoming 
    Replication)The drop-down menu (gear icon) next to an individual protected machine or 
    agent offers functions that apply only to that machine. It includes the following 
    functions:
    • Settings. Lets you set the replication priority for this agent. For more 
    information, see Setting replication priority for a protected machine.
    •Failover. If there is a disaster recovery situation, this function lets you 
    fail over to the replicated machine until you repair the original machine. 
    For more information, see Understanding failover and failback.
    • Delete. Removes the agent from replication. For more information, see 
    Removing a protected machine on the target core.
    Table 5. Virtual Standby tab options
    UI Element Description
    Add Creates a Virtual Standby machine by exporting a recovery point to a virtual 
    destination.
    Force Performs an on-demand transfer of the latest recovery points from the original 
    protected machine to the Virtual Standby machine.
    Pause Pauses the transfer of data from the Core to the virtual machine.
    Resume Resumes data transfer after it was paused.
    Remove Terminates the connection between the Core and the virtual machine.
    Show Export Queue 
    (#)Reveals the order in which data is scheduled to transfer for multiple virtual 
    machines. Table 4. Replication tab options
    UI Element Description 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B31
    Viewing the Events tab
    On the Events tab, you can view the jobs that occurred or are in progress on the Core. Buttons at the top of the 
    page let you navigate to lists of jobs in each of the three categories of activities:
    •Tasks. A job that the AppAssure must perform to operate successfully.
    •Alerts. A notification related to a task or event that includes errors and warning.
    •Events. A composite of all Core tasks and alerts.
    The following table includes descriptions of each element on the Events tab.Table 6. Virtual Standby tab table
    UI Element Description
    Status The state in which data transfer is in, such as paused.
    Machine Name The name of the Virtual Standby machine.
    Destination The name of the machine to which the Core exports the recovery points.
    Export Type The type of virtual machine host software.
    Last Export The date and time of the last export.
    Table 7. Events tab options
    UI Element Description
    Search keyword Lets you search for a specific item within each category.
    From To narrow your results, you can enter a date at which to begin searching.
    To To narrow your results, you can enter a date at which to stop searching.
    Status icons Each icon represents a different job status. Clicking one of the icons lets you 
    filter the list by that status, thereby generating a report. Clicking the icon a 
    second time removes the filter for that status. You can filter by more than one 
    status. Statuses include:
    •Active. A job that is in progress.
    •Queued. A job that is waiting for another job to complete before it can 
    initiate.
    •Waiting. A job waiting for your approval or completion, such as a seed 
    drive. (For more information about seed drives, see Understanding 
    replication.)
    • Complete. A job that the Core completed successfully.
    •Failed. A job that failed and did not complete.
    Service icon This button adds services jobs to the list of jobs. When you click this icon, a 
    smaller service icon appears on each status icon, which lets you filter by service 
    jobs that have those statuses. Examples of services jobs include deleting index 
    files or removing a machine from protection.
    Export type drop-
    down listThe drop-down list includes the formats to which you can export the event 
    report. It includes the following formats:
    •PDF
    •XLS
    •XLSX
    •RTF
    •CSV 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B32 The Events tab displays all events in a table. The table includes the following information for each item.
    Viewing the Tools tab
    The Tools tab shows system information by default, and lets you access tools to help manage the core. To access 
    these tools, select an option from the Tools menu on the left, or from the drop-down menu on the Tools tab. 
    These tools are described in the following table.Export icon Converts the event report to the format you selected.
    Page selection Event reports can include several jobs across multiple pages. The numbers and 
    arrows at the bottom of the Events tab let you navigate the additional pages of 
    the report.
    Table 8. Events tab table information
    UI Element Description
    > The bracket expands the job to reveal the following details:
    •Start Time. When the job began.
    •End Time. When the job ended.
    •Elapsed Time. The amount of time for which the job was active.
    •Rate. The rate at which the Core transfers the data.
    •Progress. When a job is in progress, it shows how much the Core 
    completed in real time. When the job is complete, it shows how much of 
    the job the Core completed.
    • Phase. When a job is in progress, this detail shows in which stage the 
    progress is (for example, Transferring).
    •Cancel. When a job is in progress, a link here lets you cancel the job.
    •Total Work. When a job is complete, it shows how much of the job the 
    Core completed.
    •Child Task. Lists the sub tasks associated with this job.
    Job The type of job the Core performed, such as transfer of volumes, maintaining 
    repository, or rolling up.
    Status The status of the job, such as Succeeded for a successfully completed job or 
    Error for a job that failed due to errors.
    Start Time The day and time at which the job began.
    End Time The day and time at which the job ended.
    Details Opens the Monitor Active Task window. It includes the job details you see when 
    you expand the job, as well as the following details for the child jobs:
    •Start Time
    •End Time
    •Elapsed Time
    •Rate
    •Pr ogr es s
    •To t a l  W o r k Table 7. Events tab options
    UI Element Description 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B33 Table 9. Information about tools accessible to the Core
    UI Element Description
    System Info Shows information about the AppAssure Core, including system information, 
    local and mounted volumes, and Replay engine connections.
    For more information, see Modifying transfer queue settings.
    Boot CDs From the Boot CDs pane, you can manage (create or delete) boot CD ISO images 
    required to perform a bare metal restore (BMR). The information shown for any 
    existing boot CD images includes the path of the ISO image, the recovery 
    environment for which it was created, and the date the image was created.
    For information on managing boot CD images, see Managing a Windows boot 
    image or Managing a Linux boot image, respectively.
    Mounts From the Local Mounts pane, you can view or dismount volumes mounted locally. 
    From the Remote Mounts pane, you can view or dismount volumes mounted 
    using the Local Mount Utility.
    For information on dismounting volumes, see Dismounting recovery points.
    For information on mounting a recovery point locally, see Mounting a recovery 
    point or Mounting a recovery point volume on a Linux machine, respectively.
    Bulk Deploy From the Deploy Agent to Machines pane, you can deploy the Agent software 
    from the Core to multiple Windows machines simultaneously. For more 
    information on performing this, see Understanding bulk deploy.
    Downloads The Downloads page includes three sections: Agent, Local Mount Utility, and 
    Other files. Each section includes a link you can use to download and install the 
    relevant files. For example: 
    •The Agent section includes a link to download the web installer for the 
    AppAssure Agent software (and also includes a link to the License Portal).
    •The Local Mount Utility includes a link to download the web installer for 
    the LMU.
    •The Other files section includes a link to download the SNMP MIB file.
    Archive The Archive page is where you can manage scheduled and mounted archives. 
    The Archive menu offers the following options:
    • Scheduled. This option takes you to the main Scheduled Archives page.
    •Create. Lets you create an archive of recovery points.
    • Check Archive. Opens the Check Archive window and lets you scan an 
    archive file for index files mapping offsets, structure integrity, and 
    checksum integrity.
    •Import. Use this option to import an archive of recovery points so that 
    you can browse the file and restore archived data.
    For more information, see Understanding archives.
    Clouds The Clouds page lets you add your existing cloud provider accounts to the 
    AppAssure Core Console and so that you can use them as archive destinations. 
    For more information, see Archiving to a cloud. For managing cloud accounts, 
    see Managing cloud accounts. 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B34
    Viewing the Configuration tab
    The Configuration tab shows settings and configuration options that let you adjust and customize AppAssure 
    protection to suit your business needs. To access these options, select an option from the menu on the 
    Configuration page, or from the drop-down menu on the Configuration tab. These options are described in the 
    following table.Diagnostics The Diagnostics page is there for your convenience in case you should ever 
    encounter an issue for which you want to contact AppAssure Support. Here, you 
    can use the Download and Upload menu options to download the Core log or 
    upload a Core log. For more information, see Downloading the Core logs and 
    Uploading logs.
    Reports The Reports page lets you generate reports about the Core’s activity and export 
    them in a variety of formats. Report options include the following:
    •Compliance. Provides the status of jobs performed by the Core.
    •Summary. Provides information about the repositories associated with 
    the Core.
    •Failure. A subset of the Compliance report, it lists only the failed jobs 
    attempted by the Core.
    For more information, see Generating and viewing reports.
    Table 10. Configuration tab options
    UI Element Description
    Repositories The Repositories tab lets you add, edit, and remove repositories and storage 
    locations. For more information, see Understanding repositories.
    Security The Security tab is where you can add encryption keys for safeguarding your 
    data. For more information, see Understanding encryption keys.
    Events Unlike the Events tab, the Configuration tab Events menu option lets you 
    manage and modify the notifications you and your colleagues receive about a 
    wide range of topics, such as replication, archive, and log truncation. On this 
    tab, you can add and edit groups, manage email settings, and filter the amount 
    of email alerts sent by enabling repetition reduction. For more information 
    about the Events option, see Understanding email notifications, Configuring 
    notification groups, and Configuring event retention.
    Retention Policy The Retention Policy tab lets you determine how long a recovery point should be 
    maintained before you archive it. This option uses the rollup feature to combine 
    recovery points after a preset amount of time, deduplicate the data, and reduce 
    the size of the data in your repository, thereby conserving space. For more 
    information, see Managing retention policies.
    Attachability The Attachability tab is where you can modify the attachability check settings 
    for your protected SQL Server machines. An attachability check determines 
    whether the SQL database is safe for recovery. For more information, see 
    Configuring SQL attachability settings. Table 9. Information about tools accessible to the Core
    UI Element Description 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B35
    Using the Error dialog box
    When an error occurs in the AppAssure Core Console user interface, such as trying to enter an invalid parameter, 
    an Error dialog box appears. 
    The dialog box typically indicates the cause of the error, includes some links to provide more information about 
    the error, and includes a Close button. You must close the Error dialog box before you continue, but you may 
    want to view more information about the error.
    In the Error dialog box, choose from the following options: Settings The options available on the Settings page of the Configuration tab apply to the 
    Core and all of its protected machines. It includes the ability to modify settings 
    in the following categories:
    •General. The General settings include the Core display name, Web server 
    port, and service port. For more information, see Understanding system 
    information.
    •Updates. The Updates section lets you determine when to check for new 
    AppAssure updates and when to install those updates. It also displays the 
    status of available updates and the last time AppAssure checked for new 
    updates Configuring update settings.
    •Nightly Jobs. Nightly jobs are regular maintenance tasks scheduled 
    during off-hours so as not to disrupt your most intensive business hours. 
    They include tasks such as downloading logs from the protected 
    machines, the attachability check job, rollup, and log truncation. For 
    more information, see Understanding nightly jobs.
    • Transfer Queue. The Transfer Queue settings determine how many data 
    transfers should occur at one time, and how many times AppAssure 
    should attempt a transfer in the case of network issues. For more 
    information, see Modifying transfer queue settings.
    Licensing On the Licensing page, you can change the type of license you use as well as 
    view information about licensing constraints, license pools, and license server. 
    The License Server section indicates communication status between the Core 
    and the License Portal. For more information, see Managing licenses.
    Backup/Restore The Backup/Restore option lets you back up and restore your core settings. For 
    more information, see Backing up and restoring Core settings.
    Job Settings The Job Settings page is where you can add jobs and modify the settings for jobs 
    scheduled to occur on the Core. Jobs include the ChecksumCheckJob, 
    MountabilityCheckJob, and ReplicationJob, among others. For more information, 
    see Configuring Core job settings.
    Table 11. Error dialog box options
    UI Element Description
    Show details If you select this link, the dialog box expands to include additional details about 
    the error. This option only appears if details are not already displayed.
    Hide details If you select this link, the dialog box contracts and hides error details. This 
    option only appears if error details are already displayed.
    Show stack trace If you select this link, the highest level of detail about the error displays, 
    including the exception chain and the full stack trace error
    Hide stack trace If you select this link, the dialog box contracts and hides error stack trace and 
    details. This option only appears if stack trace details are already displayed. Table 10. Configuration tab options
    UI Element Description 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B36 User interface errors that cause the Error dialog box to appear are not tracked in AppAssure events tab, since 
    they are simply validation or data entry errors. However, when you click the Search Knowledge Base option for 
    any error, then the URL link provided for that error is recorded to the CoreAppRecovery.log file. You can search 
    the log for the text string “KB article url generated” to see the URL for each error that was viewed in a browser. 
    For more information on downloading or viewing Core error logs, see the topics Downloading the Core logs or 
    Viewing the Core logs, respectively.
    Understanding the Quick Start Guide
    The Quick Start Guide is a new feature available with AppAssure release 5.4 and later. This feature provides you 
    with a guided flow of suggested tasks to configure and use AppAssure.
    The Quick Start Guide appears automatically the first time you upgrade to or install the AppAssure Core and 
    navigate to the Core Console. Click Start Guide on the Welcome page of the guide to see the various suggested 
    configuration tasks. Navigate through the guide using the Skip Step and Back options. When you have seen the 
    last suggested task, click Finish to close the guide.
    You can launch the Quick Start Guide again at any time. You can also choose to hide the Welcome page in the 
    Quick Start Guide. For more information about these options, see Launching the Quick Start Guide.
    Unless you hide it, the Quick Start Guide will reappear each time you log in to the AppAssure Core Console and 
    access the Home tab. For more information, see Hiding the Quick Start Guide.
    You are not required to perform the steps suggested by the guide. You can simply view the suggested tasks, 
    navigating through them using the Skip Step and Back options. Optionally, to hide the guide at any point, click 
    Exit Guide.
    If you choose to perform any configuration tasks suggested by the Quick Start Guide, follow the prompts 
    indicated in any step of the guide, and the appropriate wizard or relevant area in the user interface appears. 
    Procedures to complete each task suggested by the guide is described in this document, as indicated in the 
    table below.
    The Quick Start Guide addresses the following configuration tasks: Search Knowledge 
    BaseIf you select this link, a browser window opens showing the Dell AppAssure 
    Support knowledge base (KB). Details about the error are automatically passed 
    as parameters to search the knowledge base by key word. If any KB articles exist 
    pertaining to the error, those articles appear on the page.
    Close If you click this button, the Error dialog box closes, letting you correct the 
    erroneous information entered into the AppAssure Core Console when the error 
    appeared.
    NOTE: Not all configuration tasks suggested by the Quick Start Guide are required for all users. You must 
    understand which tasks you want to accomplish for your specific needs. Table 11. Error dialog box options
    UI Element Description 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B37
    Launching the Quick Start Guide
    The Quick Start Guide appears automatically the first time you upgrade to or install the AppAssure Core. Unless 
    you hide it, the guide reappears each time you access the Home tab on the Core Console. Table 12. Quick Start Guide configuration tasks
    Function Short Description Result of Selecting Task, Link to Procedure
    Protection Protecting an agent 
    machine, protecting a server 
    cluster, or protecting 
    multiple machines using bulk 
    protectClick Protect or select Protect Machine from the drop-
    down menu to open the Protect Machine Wizard. For 
    information on completing the Protect Machine Wizard, see 
    Protecting a machine.
    Select Protect Cluster from the drop-down menu to open 
    the Connect to Cluster dialog box. For more information on 
    protecting a cluster, see Protecting a cluster.
    Select Bulk Protect from the drop-down menu to open the 
    Protect Multiple Machines Wizard. For information on 
    completing the Protect Multiple Machines Wizard, see 
    Protecting multiple machines.
    Replication Setting up replication from a 
    primary (source) core to a 
    secondary (target) coreClick Replication to open the Replication tab. Prompts you 
    to add a target core using the Replication Wizard. For 
    information on using the Replication Wizard to set up 
    replication on a self-managed core, see Replicating to a 
    self-managed target core. For general information on 
    replication, see Configuring replication.
    Virtual Export Performing a one-time or 
    establishing continual export 
    from a protected agent 
    machine to a virtual machineClick Export to perform an export of data from your 
    protected machine to a virtual machine. You can either 
    perform a one-time export, or set up virtual standby for 
    continual export to a VM. For information on virtual 
    exports, see Exporting data to a Windows-based virtual 
    machine.
    Configuration Allows you to set up 
    additional configuration for 
    the AppAssure CoreClick Configuration to see prompts for security (setting up 
    encryption keys), notifications (setting up event 
    notification), and retention policies (establishing criteria 
    for rollup of aging recovery points).
    Configuration: 
    EncryptionSetting up encryption key 
    that you can use for one or 
    more agentsClick Security to open the Security page on the 
    Configuration tab. Prompts you to add an encryption key or 
    import one. Once you do this, you may apply it to one or 
    more agents. Encryption is described in the topic 
    Understanding encryption keys.
    Configuration: 
    NotificationsSetting up notifications for 
    events, warnings and alertsClick Events to specify notification groups for events, 
    warnings, and alerts. To send these by email, you must also 
    establish SMTP server settings. For more information on 
    managing events, see the topic Managing events, including 
    the topics Configuring notification groups and 
    Configuring 
    an email server.
    Configuration: 
    RetentionViewing or changing the 
    default retention policy for 
    the CoreClick Retention Policy to open the Retention Policy page 
    on the Configuration tab. From here you can define how 
    long to keep a recovery point before rolling it up. For 
    conceptual information about retention policies, see the 
    topic Retention and archiving. For procedural information, 
    see Managing retention policies.
    Restore Restoring data from a 
    recovery point on the CoreClick Restore to open the Restore Machine Wizard. For 
    information on restoring data, see the topic Restoring 
    volumes from a recovery point. 
    						
    							Dell AppAssure User Guide
    Version 5.4.3 Revision B38 Use the procedure below to open the Quick Start Guide at any time from the Core Console.
    To launch the Quick Start Guide
    1 Navigate to the AppAssure Core Console.
    2 From the Help menu, select Quick Start Guide.
    The Quick Start Guide appears.
    Hiding the Quick Start Guide
    The Quick Start Guide appears automatically the first time you upgrade to or install the AppAssure Core.
    It also appears when you select Quick Start Guide from the Help drop-down menu, and each time you access the 
    Home tab on the Core Console.
    Use the procedure below to hide the Quick Start Guide.
    To hide the Quick Start Guide from the Welcome page
    •From the AppAssure Core Console, if you are viewing the Welcome page of the Quick Start Guide, do the 
    following:
    •If you want to hide the Welcome page of the Quick Start Guide, select Dont show again.
    •If you want to hide the Quick Start Guide for this session, then click Close.
    The Quick Start Guide closes. The next time you access the Home tab on the Core Console, the 
    Quick Start Guide will reappear.
    You can also open the Quick Start Guide from the Help menu, as described in Launching the 
    Quick Start Guide.
    To hide the Quick Start Guide from within any step of the Quick Start Guide
    •From any page in the Quick Start Guide click Exit Guide.
    The Quick Start Guide closes. If you select this option, you can still open the Quick Start Guide from the 
    Help menu, as described in Launching the Quick Start Guide.
    Viewing the protected machines menu
    In the AppAssure user interface, a Protected Machines menu appears in the left navigation area. By default, this 
    menu is fully expanded, and shows a list of any machines that are protected by this Core. If you have any server 
    clusters protected, then these are included in this list.
    You can collapse or expand the view for protected machines and server clusters in your Core by clicking the 
    arrow on the left side of this menu.
    The Protected Machines menu includes a drop-down menu on the right side which lists functions that can be 
    performed on all protected machines. Click the arrow to the right of Protected Machine to see the menu and to 
    perform any of the following:
    •Force an incremental snapshot for all machines
    •Force a base image for all machines
    •Pause protection for all machines (if protection is active)
    NOTE: This option will hide the Welcome page the next time the Start Guide is opened, and 
    every time, until you upgrade the AppAssure Core.
    If you choose to hide this page, and want to access advanced options in the future, then 
    select Back in the wizard to see this hidden page.  
    						
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